There were 74 new registrations made last week with the Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying, the most seen since February.

Six different organizations were named in three new filings apiece: Canadian Art Museums, Food Packaging Institute,Vasomune Therapeutics, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Livingston International and In Colour Capital.

Notably, Crestview Strategy’s Patricia Sibal registered for the Canadian Football League to look for funding. The registration does not specify pandemic relief but the league has been clear that without millions in emergency funding to weather the COVID-19 pandemic, it may collapse.

Collectively, 56 different lobbyists filed new registrations last week, led by Jacques Aubê (a board member with a bunch of interconnected arts and culture events in Montreal) with five and Luka Stevanovic (Maple Leaf Strategies), Matthew Henley (Wellington Dupont) and Andrea Beltran (Global Public Affairs) with three. Global Public Affairs won the week with nine new registrations, followed by StrategyCorp with six and Spirit West Management with four. Seven different firms had three registrations each.

The highlights

In recent agriculture and food registrations:

Megan Flynn and Leanna Karremans of Pathway Group registered to lobby on behalf of the Food Packaging Institute to discuss the draft science assessment of plastic pollution.

Christopher Vivone of Edelman registered to lobby for HelloFresh, the meal kit company, to have meetings about agricultural policy and the food supply chain.

In recent children issues registrations:

Salvatore Annunziata of Para Pro Forma Consulting registered for Courage for Freedom to raise awareness of the issue of human trafficking and work for bi-national solutions with U.S. officials.

Madison Simmons and Alla Drigola of Impact Public Affairs registered on behalf of the Missing Children Society of Canada to find funding for a secondary national alerting system, similar to the Amber Alert system.

In recent COVID-19/biopharmaceutical research and vaccine registrations:

Conal Slobodin, John Duffy and Danya Vered of StrategyCorp registered for Vasomune Therapeutics to find funding for COVID-19 countermeasures. Last year, the company received $2.8 million from the U.S. Defence department.

Vaxil Bio Therapeutics Ltd. was registered by lawyer Lester Scheininger and company president David Goren. They will seek funding for a COVID-19 vaccine and clinical trials.

David Brock of Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP registered for the Fio Corporation, the makers of Fionet, which provides real-time digital testing for COVID-19. Brock also registered for Edesa Biotech Research, which is working on a clinical trial to treat acute respiratory distress syndrome – the primary cause of death for COVID-19 infected patients. Edesa received $5,200 in federal funding last year.

In recent COVID-19 financial support registrations:

Kathleen Monk and Daniel Bernier of Earnscliffe Strategy Group registered for the Canadian Independent Fish Harvester’s Federation. They are seeking financial support due to disruptions caused by the pandemic.

Miranda Desa registered for Last Chance for Animals, an animal welfare organization based in California. The subject is COVID-19 related funding to the animal agriculture industry. Desa is a lawyer in Toronto.

Jacques Aubé registered to find financial support for a group of Montreal events all impacted by pandemic shutdowns and the temporary collapse of large public events and tourism – Nuit Blanche, the International Jazz Festival, Montréal en Lumière and Les Francofolies. Aubé is a member of the board and also a vice president with Evenko G.P., the company that operates the events. All these events have also been registered by paid lobbyists in the past few weeks.

Chris Gray of Grassroots Public Affairs registered for Equestrian Canada to seek at least $11 million in emergency funding for ‘the health and welfare of commercially employed equines” and commercial equine farming facilities.

Global Public Affairs’ Andrea Beltran, Sean Casey and Tara Mazurk registered for the Canadian Art Museum Directors Organization and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, both of which are seeking financial aid. Last year the Museum Directors received $143,000 in federal funding while the symphony received just over $5.3 million.

Beltran also registered on behalf of the Canadian Dance Assembly, which represents professional dancers, to help them navigate all the emergency relief programs. Last year, the assembly received about $150,000 from various levels of government.

In recent COVID-19 medical supplies and supply chain registrations:

Matthew Henley of Wellington Dupont registered for Silk Roads Resources of the United Arab Emirates to help them get contracts to manufacture personal protective equipment (PPE).

Eric Lamoureux of Conseillers Affaires Publiques Inc. registered for Greenfield Global, about COVID-19 and to “ensure regulations allow for a robust supply of necessary products.” Greenfield usually produces ethanol for the petroleum industry but switched to making sanitizer in April. Last year, Greenfield received $1 million from the Ontario government

Toronto lawyer Lester Scheininger registered for N8 Medical LLC to discuss a COVID-19-related medical device with Procurement and Public Service Canada. According to their website, the company makes specially coated tubes used in ventilators that reduce the risk of viral infections and some Canadian doctors have received permission to use them to treat COVID-19 patients.

Philip Cartwright of Global Public Affairs registered for Hunter Amenities about manufacturing COVID-19-specific products but also about Canada Revenue Agency audits and possible export financing options. Hunter Amenities manufactures products for the hospitality industry, such as the little bottles of shampoo and hand cream that are founds in hotels.

Vasileios Tsianos, Robert Kramchynsky and Troy Sherman from StrategyCorp registered on behalf of In Colour Capital, which has a subsidiary company, Ontario Corp 002753538, trying to import PPE.

Other COVID-19 related registrations:

Lorraine McGregor and David Adams of Spirit West Management Ltd registered for both Convergence CT and Change-Wireless to lobby to get the contracts for a national contact tracing app.